Volume 18: We Built This City on Box Office Receipts
The Dark Knight Rises
Dir: Christopher Nolan – Planned release date: July 20
After this summer’s first teaser trailer wound up being thrown-together and underwhelming, this new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises does a much, much better job at teasing the film to come. Most impressive of all is that it accomplishes this without flashing too much of the film’s large-scale setpieces. Yes, there’s the whole thing of the football field collapsing under the feet of the slightly distracting Hines Ward. (Must we put the player’s name on the jersey?) Besides that, the trailer focuses much more on the new characters and the mental state of the returning cast. Also, Bane mumbles for a bit. Thus far, this is the best piece of advertising I’ve seen for the most generally anticipated film of next year. I cannot speak to the IMAX prologue, as my only option was to watch a bootleg video online. And a crappy one at that. So I shall say nothing, except that I’m glad Mayor Carcetti was able to work his way up to the CIA.
Most of all, I’m glad that Nolan seems to be keeping his ambitions high with The Dark Knight Rises. It’s downright unrealistic to think it will be a better film than its predecessor, but little here would suggest that he’s decided to rest on his laurels. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the final cut for this movie winds up being almost three hours, but that will nothing to deter any loyal moviegoer. Every time I’ve been in a theater and this trailer has played, it has been followed by very audible whooping and clapping. So, yeah, expectations are high. Nolan is obviously working hard to surpass them, and here’s hoping his film doesn’t collapse under the weight. I mean, this is just a sequel to one of the biggest movies of all time. I can’t imagine that kind of pressure.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Dir: Peter Jackson – Planned release date: December 14
Speaking of films that have inspired perhaps unreasonably high expectations, the Internet recently saw the premiere of the trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Now, here’s my biggest fear for this film: it turns into little more than an excuse to remind everybody about Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and fails to become its own thing. I only bring this up because the trailer seems to play up this “nostalgic” angle, and many of the characters from Lord of the Rings return despite not ever actually appearing in Tolkien’s book. This, I’ll admit, worries me ever so slightly. (That and the purely financial decision to split the film into two parts.) That said, it is admittedly glorious to see Jackson’s Middle Earth back onscreen, and it’s amazing how effortlessly he was able to recreate this world. It’s like he never left, and the most important new addition—Martin Freeman as the young Bilbo Baggins—seems right at home in the hobbit hairdo and outfit. I am suitably excited, but I choose to remain cautious.
Rock of Ages
Dir: Adam Shankman – Planned release date: June 1
For a while, I had to convince myself that this trailer for Rock of Ages was not a fake trailer produced by Saturday Night Live. And it turns out that, yes, this is a real movie that people decided to spend money on, produce and direct. Now, I have an aversion to ’80s nostalgia to begin with, but Rock of Ages lays on the environment-killing hairspray so thick that I could barely breathe by the time we reached the incredibly awkward “We Built This City/We’re Not Gonna Take It” mash-up that takes up the preview’s final minute or so. Not that this film doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor about itself; it has that joke about two crazy-haired guys at the bar that a sleepwalking Alec Baldwin mistakes for women. Oh, Rock of Ages. Your humor cuts like a knife. I am clearly not the intended audience for this film, but I will likely check it out just to see if Tom Cruise can sing a good Def Leppard song or something. Other than that, this just looks like it will make me uncomfortable.
Men in Black III
Dir: Barry Sonnenfeld - Planned release date: May 25
The latest in a string of belated sequels that we seem to be getting recently, Men in Black III seems to more or less be more of the same. And you know what? I have no problem with that. I am a fan of both the original and its sequel (that’s right, both of them) and I think it might actually be a lot of fun to return to this ridiculous world with a perpetually-caffeinated Will Smith and a thoroughly bored Tommy Lee Jones. Plus, in the case of casting a young Jones, the filmmakers needed to look no further than his old No Country for Old Men co-star Josh Brolin, which is more or less a perfect fit. With regards to this trailer, however, I quite like how it never delves all that deeply into the film’s central plot of Smith’s time travel. Instead, it works as a nice little tease to get people excited about everyone’s favorite alien catchers. Of course, the film’s well-documented production struggles don’t bode incredibly well, but let’s not worry about that right now.
Prometheus
Dir: Ridley Scott – Planned release date: June 8
Two things: First, I am more excited for Prometheus than I have been for any Ridley Scott movie in a ridiculously long time. Second, I am incredibly annoyed by how Scott and company refuse to acknowledge that Prometheus is clearly connected to the Alien franchise. At first, it was written as a pure prequel. Ever since, the filmmakers have backed off that stance and instead claimed that Prometheus is its own thing with, perhaps, “strands of Alien DNA.” Much like, perhaps, The Bourne Supremancy has strands of The Bourne Identity DNA. Nothing should make this clearer than this trailer for Prometheus, which once again inspires conflicting feelings inside me. Yes, the trailer looks pretty awesome. That I admit, and I cannot, cannot wait to see this movie when it comes out. However, its style is PRECISELY THE SAME AS THE TRAILER FOR ALIEN. Quit being coy, Ridley. Just say it’s an Alien movie. We’re all going to see it anyway. What are you trying to hide?
Anyway, looks good.
No comments:
Post a Comment